Picnic area · Yellowstone National Park
A three-table picnic stop beside the Gibbon River.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yellowstone Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yellowstone National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Yellowstone audio tourRecorded for this area
Rain That Took the Long Way“Some of the water erupting from Old Faithful has spent decades to centuries underground. It began as rain or snow, then seeped into the ground and heated up along its underground journey.”
Plays on the road 0.3 mi from Caldera Rim Picnic Area in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“First time driving through a national park. We used the Yellowstone tour on grand loop Road and it’s just like having a tour guide in your car with you.”
Guide
Caldera Rim Picnic Area is a small roadside picnic stop beside the Gibbon River, just north of Gibbon Falls. Use it for a quick meal or breather on the west-central Yellowstone drive; it is a simple place to sit, not a destination that needs a long visit.
There are three picnic tables and one vault toilet marked wheelchair-accessible. The tables sit in a wooded clearing beside paved paths and wooden railings. The toilet is accessible, but access to each table is not documented.
Pack your meal and drinking water; food service and potable water were not confirmed at this stop. Yellowstone allows camp stoves at picnic areas, while campfires are allowed only where a fire grate is provided. Whether this site has a grate is not listed, and overnight camping is not allowed in picnic areas.
Wildlife
713 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
743 sightingsWolfMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
5,273 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
3,258 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
397 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,494 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yellowstone. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateMonument Geyser Basin Trail2.4 mi · 2 hr · 1.7 mi awayA steep climb from the Gibbon River to a pale thermal basin.
EasyArtists Paintpots Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.6 mi awayA short loop past bubbling mud and a steep climb.
EasyTerrace Spring Trail0.2 mi · 15 min · 4.8 mi awayA short boardwalk loop to Yellowstone’s small thermal area.
Picnic area · 0.9 mi awayIron Spring Picnic AreaFive tables make this a handy US-89 picnic break.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayGibbon FallsA quick roadside stop beside an 84-foot caldera-rim waterfall.
Sight · 1.3 mi awayBeryl SpringA bright blue roadside spring with a vent you can hear.
Picnic area · 1.4 mi awayGibbon Falls Picnic AreaA riverside lunch stop below Gibbon Falls.Sight · 1.7 mi awayMonument Geyser BasinA steep hike to a hillside of pale, steaming silica spires.
Sight · 2.3 mi awayArtists PaintpotsA short loop through bubbling mud, bright pools, and small geysers.
Picnic area · 3.2 mi awayGibbon Meadows Picnic AreaTen picnic tables beside the Gibbon River and a broad meadow.
Picnic area · 4 mi awayTuff Cliff Picnic AreaA roadside picnic beneath a cliff of welded volcanic ash.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
